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Under Section 58(5) of the Family Law Act 1986 , the courts cannot make a declaration that a marriage was void at its inception. That recently proved fatal to an application for a declaration as to marital status by a husband who had undergone a marriage...

The High Court has ruled that a three-year-old girl was not habitually resident in England and Wales and it therefore did not have jurisdiction to determine her father's application for her return from the UAE. The girl's mother was a citizen of Pakistan...

The High Court has dismissed an ex-wife's appeal against a ruling that her former husband's share of the home they owned together was held by his trustees in bankruptcy. The couple had married and purchased the property in 2009. They had two children. In...

The Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal against an order of the High Court that a 14-year-old boy who had remained in England after visiting his father should return to live in South Africa. The boy's parents, both South African nationals, had married...

A marriage is generally recognised in English law if it is valid under the law of the country in which it takes place, a legal principle known as lex loci celebrationis (the law of the place of the celebration). That principle was central to a recent...

In certain circumstances, the courts are able to grant permission for continued storage of gametes or embryos where the strict legislative requirements for consent to such storage have not been complied with. Recently, the High Court considered 15...

The Family Court has ruled in financial remedy proceedings that a significant part of the value of a husband's pensions had accrued during the marriage, but rejected the argument that his pensions had become fully 'matrimonialised'. The husband and wife...

The High Court has ruled that two girls, aged 10 and six, whose mother brought them to the UK without their father's consent should return to Zimbabwe . The girls and their parents were Zimbabwean nationals. The parents had married in 2014 but never lived...

The Family Court has ruled in financial remedy proceedings that a departure from an equal division of assets was appropriate in view of the fact that riskier and less liquid business assets would be retained by the husband. The husband and wife had met in...

In a recent ruling on a wife's application for a financial remedy order , the Family Court accepted that her caring responsibilities for the couple's son justified a departure from the sharing principle. The Court handed down its judgment as an indication...